All Forum Posts by: Tina Tsysh

Renting to college students can be tough especially if it's an all-guy house. I definitely recommend collecting the maximum deposit that is allowed in your state and putting parents on the lease as well. If the deposit is not enough to fix up the property, that's when you can try getting more money from their parents if they are on the lease. 

Congrats on the new purchase! Do any of the units need any renovations? Ideally, you would rehab each unit, move in a new tenant and raise rents to increase your income. Do the current tenants have leases in place? Leases are very important and can make a huge difference down the line. Talk to current tenants and see if they have any complaints because happy tenants will make your life easier! 

If you are looking to purchase something that has 5 units or more, you can get a commercial loan which is sometimes easier to quality for. 
If you are looking to purchase something under 5 units, you can get a conventional loan. If you are you going to stay living at your primary residence, you will have to put 20% down most likely if the new property is going to be your investment property. 

As @Evan Polaski mentioned, you want to have more than 20% of equity in your home to get a refinance. How much equity do you have in the house and what size multifamily are you looking to buy?

Congrats on getting onto Bigger Pockets that was definitely a right choice! I would recommend listening to as many BP Real Estate podcasts as possible, some must reads are Rich Dad Poor Dad. BP has lots of great books that you can find here. All of their books are great and whichever one you pick is going to be a great read. Try to join a local real estate group and reach out to some investors on here from your market. Good luck! 

Your actual rent roll for the 2 months is called "T-2" which stands for Trailing 2 months. The numbers you are forecasting is called a proforma. You typically forecast on a 12-month basis. However, only having 2 months of actual income is not very reliable. 

Having a good PM when investing oos is very important so make sure you do your due diligence. Are you able to ask any current tenants what they think about the current PM? Ask if they are happy with communication between the two, how long do they have to wait for repairs when they request them etc. 

In addition, I would also interview the current PM. Ask them what recommendations they have for you regarding the property, what were some things the previous owner did that were successful and not so successful. Pay attention to your communication with them. If they take a long time to respond that is something you want to consider because you don't want to be stuck with someone like that managing your property. 

Your first step should be finding a local realtor who can help you find a home and reaching out to a lender to get pre-approved. Those two steps are crucial. Don't think 1000 steps ahead and take one step at a time. An experienced agent should be able to guide you through the process and make sure that you get a good deal. You can find many realtors / lenders on BP so use that to your advantage !

I would say a lot of it depends on your personal goals. Are you trying to replace your husband's W-2 income and quit being a real estate agent or are you trying to build your net worth therefore you don't care about getting cash flow right this second?

If you decide to start flipping, understand that it's going to be a full-time commitment. You will need to constantly be on the look out for deals, you will be competing with cash offers, you have to find contractors and manage the renovation process. 

If you decide to buy hold, understand that you most likely won't quit your job after the first year. This will require patience and it's definitely not a get rich quick way but this way of investing has been proven to make you wealthy after certain number of years. 

At the end of the day, either method has its pros and cons. You have to consider what you want your lifestyle to be and expect to make sacrifices in the short run. 

Join your local real estate groups and go to as many meet ups (even if they are virtual) as possible. That's a great way to expand your network and build more connections! 

Buy J Scott's book called Estimating Rehab Costs. It is a very useful book for someone who doesn't know how to estimate rehab costs. He breaks everything down in 25 categories and provides different repair items with their estimated cost on per square foot basis or as a full dollar amount. The book is a very quick read and will give you more confidence on guesstimating your rehab costs. Good luck!